So far this fall, I have only seen a pair of movies in the theater, owing to stacked weekends out of town all September long (what a blast we all had at Rachael & Kale's Sea Ranch wedding last weekend!), abnormally sizzling Indian summer weather, and of course, a general lack of funds. In any case, a recap:
"The Town" is an excellent crime thriller about Boston bank robbers from director/co-writer/leading man Ben Affleck, as fine a comeback as I've ever seen (especially when measured from the disastrous depths of "Gigli" all the way up to this). It opened in first place over the weekend of September 17, banking nearly $24 million and out-gunning even the most bullish of expectations from box office pundits like me. With stellar reviews and strong box office, look for "The Town" to stick around as an unexpected player in this year's Oscar derby.
The starry cast is uniformly on its A-game, with Affleck himself leading the pack as VIP. Jeremy Renner, so great in last year's Best Picture winner "The Hurt Locker," and "Gossip Girl" Blake Lively (!) dress WAY down as white trash siblings for whom desperate times call for desperate measures when the going gets tough (you know the drill). "Mad Men" Dreamboat Jon Hamm is the FBI agent hot on the trail of the film's central bank robbing quartet (led by Affleck and Renner, filling prototypical good cop/bad cop roles) while Chris Cooper ("Adaptation") and Pete Postlethwaite (the titular dad to Daniel Day-Lewis in one of my very favorites, "In the Name of the Father") take smaller but pivotal roles.
Brit Rebecca Hall ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") pulls off another ace American-accented performance as the bank teller hostage who becomes the object of Affleck's affections after the film's intense opener, and the romance works because it's genuine, never forced. Much of the plot's tension is derived from the revelation of Affleck's identity (she doesn't know he was behind the mask during her traumatic taking), and with both characters working unexpected emotional angles, Affleck the Director builds a skillful crescendo that really packs a punch.
And then there's Ben Affleck the Actor, who has never been better. For his first shot at directing (the great 2007 crime drama "Gone Baby Gone"), Affleck stayed firmly off camera, allowing little bro Casey to take center stage. Now that Ben knows what he's doing as director, he's boldly multitasking with "The Town" and the results speak for themselves. Directing himself, Affleck is finally free to dive deep into his character and exude something real.
The nun masks worn in "The Town" are legitimately terrifying.
I am not a fan of the overrated math genius tale "Good Will Hunting," though Affleck and Matt Damon won Oscars for its original screenplay back in 1998 and announced themselves as meaning business from the outset. The film just doesn't move me, no matter how many repeat viewings I suffer. Nevertheless, it was a major breakthrough that launched the movie star careers of both hunks while all but leaving their screenwriting aspirations as a mere footnote. Affleck co-wrote "Gone Baby Gone" (adapted from Dennis Lehane's novel) and is one of three credited screenwriters here too, this time working from Chuck Hogan's novel "Prince of Thieves." It's good to see he's back where he belongs, writing his own material, as it's safe to say whoever penned "Gigli" and "Pearl Harbor" scarcely did Affleck the Actor the justice he deserves.
We Will Never Forget
There are a handful of leading men who've taken the directing reigns into their own hands, starring on screen and calling the shots behind the camera to varying degrees of success. Kevin Costner (blech) bagged a fat handful of Oscars for the beautiful epic "Dances with Wolves," yet never saw lightning strike twice as the 1997 bomb "The Postman" proved. Clint Eastwood routinely directs himself to much greater good, and I'm really hoping Affleck follows the Eastwood mold as opposed to the egomaniacal Costner formula (he reportedly took over directing reigns on "Waterworld" in order to execute HIS vision...everyone knows how that turned out).
With "Gone Baby Gone" and now "The Town," Affleck has directed a pair of sophisticated, skillfully executed crime dramas that recall the great studio movies of Eastwood the Movie Star's heyday. While his next directing gig is up in the air, Affleck next appears on screen in Weinstein Co's "The Company Men" (October 22) as a blue collar family man who is suddenly laid off. That film also features a heavyweight cast, with Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Craig T. Nelson, Rosemarie DeWitt (the "Rachel Getting Married" opposite Anne Hathaway), Maria Bello, and - GULP - Kevin Costner. Looks quite good, though it seems small enough in scale that it may slip through the cracks of the seasonal slate of heavyweight Oscar bait. The trailer is below:
Now, briefly, to "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," which I'm glad I didn't shell out 20 bucks to see in San Francisco w/ Kali, Alexis & Michael as planned. It was, however, well worth the time spent watching the above-average 3D diversion at a free preview screening early last week. Michael would likely disagree, as he (predictably, I suppose) quickly dismissed it as "disappointing baby shit." Suffice to say, "The Owls of Ga'Hoole" was no "How to Train Your Dragon," which I still count among the best films of 2010 and am quite sure it will remain on the list even as the competition gets fierce. "Dragon" hits DVD on October 15.
The starry cast is uniformly on its A-game, with Affleck himself leading the pack as VIP. Jeremy Renner, so great in last year's Best Picture winner "The Hurt Locker," and "Gossip Girl" Blake Lively (!) dress WAY down as white trash siblings for whom desperate times call for desperate measures when the going gets tough (you know the drill). "Mad Men" Dreamboat Jon Hamm is the FBI agent hot on the trail of the film's central bank robbing quartet (led by Affleck and Renner, filling prototypical good cop/bad cop roles) while Chris Cooper ("Adaptation") and Pete Postlethwaite (the titular dad to Daniel Day-Lewis in one of my very favorites, "In the Name of the Father") take smaller but pivotal roles. 
With "Gone Baby Gone" and now "The Town," Affleck has directed a pair of sophisticated, skillfully executed crime dramas that recall the great studio movies of Eastwood the Movie Star's heyday. While his next directing gig is up in the air, Affleck next appears on screen in Weinstein Co's "The Company Men" (October 22) as a blue collar family man who is suddenly laid off. That film also features a heavyweight cast, with Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Craig T. Nelson, Rosemarie DeWitt (the "Rachel Getting Married" opposite Anne Hathaway), Maria Bello, and - GULP - Kevin Costner. Looks quite good, though it seems small enough in scale that it may slip through the cracks of the seasonal slate of heavyweight Oscar bait. The trailer is below:
0 Yorumlar